This article first appeared in the ODDA Magazine 20th Issue “There is a Time”.

ALEXANDRE MATTIUSSI

Alexandre Mattiussi is feeling the love. This past year his company, AMI Paris, saw strong sales as it became a safe haven for shoppers looking for comfort clothing to wear while in lockdown. And he has found himself a new partner in Sequoia Capital China, to help him take AMI to the next level as a global fashion house with a Parisian heart. Mattiussi is a strong believer in signs, and right now all the signs are saying that big things are in store for a fashion brand built on one simple but powerful premise. Well made evergreen clothing that you can wear every day of the week.

JESSICA MICHAULT. First off, I guess, congratulations are in order because you just signed a big partnership with a new investor. That’s wonderful news! Tell me a little bit about it. What was it about them that attracted you?
ALEXANDRE MATTIUSSI. I felt they understood the way we [AMI Paris] see our fashion and I liked the way they also respect my mood, my freedom, the way I have built my company over the last 10 years. It was a kind of a very natural way we were able to speak together and we thought maybe we should do a partnership. It felt like the natural next step for the company.

J.M. I was also happy to learn that during this past year, which has been difficult for so many brands, AMI has come through it pretty well. What did you feel was the underlying attraction of your brand that had people still coming back, even with everything that has been going on, that customers made the choice to continue to buy AMI pieces?
A.M. I think we share a very good energy, a very positive energy. We are making clothes for people who want to look cool. It’s not about fashion. AMI is about family, it’s about friends, it’s about relationships, it's about love, it's about good products you want to wear to feel cool, to feel sexy, to feel part of real life. And I think people thought to themselves, “Why should I buy a sweatshirt for 900 euros when I can buy something from AMI which has a much better price and very good quality? And it has a nice logo with a heart with its very positive message.” I think it’s about the energy again, I feel it, but I don’t know how to describe my success. But this is my story, I have to tell it because it can be inspiring for lots of people too.

J.M. I think your message of love and friendship and of well made everyday clothes that have longevity also speaks to the times that we are living in. And there is also, at AMI, this fundamental idea of inclusivity, which has been part of the brand ethos way before it became a focus in the industry. From the beginning, when you were just doing menswear, women were already dressing in your designs. Can you maybe talk a little bit about that aspect of your brand?
A.M. It’s really hard for me to think this way, you know, menswear and womenswear as separate things. We feel with our wardrobe there is no gender. Why must a sweater be for men when it fits a woman? I think the last few years have been wonderful for everyone because I think those boundaries are breaking down. I say we should just mix things because when you mix things, you free yourself. I feel like it’s much more interesting to break the rules in a very nice way. And it makes everyone happy in the end.

J.M. I know that your logo with the heart and the “A” has a fantastic backstory. I know that so many people with their logos research and market test them before they finally decide on one. But this logo was in your life forever, isn’t that right?
A.M. Yeah. When I was a kid, it was my signature so it was somehow meant to be I think. It was written in the stars. I really love the logo. I love advertising. I was born in the 80s with Nike, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, all the strong logos. I always felt inside of me, that one day I wanted to create my own logo. And 20 years later with my team, we were having meeting after meeting trying to find a logo and nothing was right. At the same time on my desk, there were plenty of sketches with my heart and my A letter, that is how I would sign off on things. It was right there but we didn’t see it. And one day we looked at it and we all said “Let’s try this!” And now it’s a huge success. I love it because it’s very personal. It is part of my life.

“You have to cultivate chance, it’s like a muscle. It’s like your brain, you have to read to keep clever, you have to go to the gym to keep toned. It’s the same for the signs you have to stay very, very aware.”

J.M. You seem to kind of look for signs in your life. I know you put importance into different things, like your lucky number nine, which you have tattooed on your wrist, even the name of your company comes from the initials of your name. Is it true you believe in signs?

A.M. Yes. It’s all about signs. We have signs all around us every day, for everyone. I am very lucky because I am someone who is able to recognize the signs, to connect with them. To feel the idea of something at the right moment, at the right time, in the right place, with the right people. You have to cultivate chance, it’s like a muscle. It’s like your brain, you have to read to keep clever, you have to go to the gym to keep toned. It’s the same for the signs you have to stay very, very aware. I’m very curious to meet new people all the time, to take risks, to go to new places, to listen to music I’ve never heard before. Because this is a way to train and experience this idea of signs that come to me. If I don’t look at them, they’re not going to look at me. To have someone to knock at the door, you have to listen for them. I’m not that kind of designer who says “I want everything to come from me” you know, the megalomania designer thing. For me it is all about teamwork, we are all together. Sometimes I have the idea, sometimes someone else has the idea.And this is great they can share the ideas with me because I encourage them to share that idea and I am not afraid to say “That’s a good idea, let’s do it.” AMI is not about Alexandre Mattiussi, it’s AMI. 10 years ago when I decided to name the company I felt it was very pretentious to call it “Alexandre Mattiussi.” I’m very happy that 99 percent of people who are buying my clothes don’t know me, they know the AMI brand. I’m not the big star of the company. The big star of the company is AMI itself, it’s the clothes.

J.M. One area I do want to ask you about is how are you trying to incorporate more sustainable practices into the ethos of your brand?
A.M. I am very happy that you asked this question because that is something we have been working on for the last two years now. And I am very proud actually, 90 percent of our production is made of wool and cotton and all of the AMI pieces made from wool and cotton have the GOTS [Global Organic Textile Standard] and RWS [Responsible Wool Standard] certificates. We are really working hard to be in tune with this sustainable transformation of the industry.

J.M. You’ve been doing staple evergreen pieces, for a decade and you have also created the codes of your house over that period. How do you build off of these ideas that are so classic, and continue to refresh them every year so that you can keep enticing people back into your stores each season?
A.M. Sticking to the same idea of creating staple pieces is a strong part of my DNA. And at the same time, as I said before, it is also important to me as a designer to stay curious and to feel what’s happening around because the world is constantly changing. You have to look at the younger generation, you have to look at the new music, you have to watch the new films, and all the young artistic movements. When you do that, you feel yourself changing too and it makes your brain grow. I just need to interpret those changes in the clothing. I’m not going to reinvent myself every season. It comes down to the little things. It’s about texture, it’s about the materials, the size of the buttons, the size of the shoulder, the comfort, the lining. It’s all about the details, that is where you find those important differences. You look at a car in the 50s and a car now you still have five seats, windows, four wheels. It’s just the technique that changed a little bit but it’s the same principle.

J.M. You worked for about a decade at houses like Dior, Givenchy, and Marc Jacobs before launching your brand. But there seems to be a tendency today for some houses to hire creative directors straight out of school. Do you feel like it is still important to have that time working for someone else, to make those mistakes and learn at the other houses before taking on a top spot? Or has fashion changed?
A.M. It was important to me for sure, I felt at this time if I didn’t have this experience, I feel like I couldn’t have been a success. Being a designer is one thing, having ideas and creative direction but leading a company it’s tricky. It’s really hard; paying bills, the administration, the government, the taxes, all of that. And the business side of fashion is what I learned from my time at those other houses. I didn’t learn so much about how to make a t-shirt or sweatshirt. But I learned about how people worked together, how a production team works with a design team with the merchandising team with the communications team. So I feel it's important to spend some time learning without the pressure of having a whole house on your shoulders right away, especially an established one.

“I was alone at the office for two months, getting the DHL, making photocopies, answering the phone, doing the collection by myself in the office, doing Zooms with the team, setting my fabrics by myself, sketching by myself, sending my sketch.”

J.M. How did you live through this last year, when you had to stop and take a beat and reflect? Everyone was forced into a “time out.” How was that for you?
A.M. I stayed at home the first two days, three days, and then I asked my legal team if I could come into the office if I was all alone. I was like, “Can I come to the office? I want to be at the office.” So I was alone at the office for two months, getting the DHL, making photocopies, answering the phone, doing the collection by myself in the office, doing Zooms with the team, setting my fabrics by myself, sketching by myself, sending my sketch. It was for me, it was a rebirth, it was like I started again from the beginning. I enjoyed it really. The risk in fashion is to become too complacent to set in your ways. When you start toget money, you start to get comfortable. Sometimes you can lose a bit of a sense of reality, you know. And this for me was really very fantastic, because I was like “Okay. Let’s start again. You are alone now. You have to do a collection. How do you make a collection by yourself? Remember you did it before. Before you had 160 people around you.” And it ended up becoming a very personal collection. I really love this collection because it’s very simple, it’s very pure. I hope people will enjoy it in the stores; the fabrics, the comfort, the quality, everything is really, really simple but very well done. I am very proud of this collection.

Photographer ANTONIO YSURSA
Fashion Editor LAURA STOLOFF
In conversation with JESSICA MICHAULT
Edited by EMMELEIA DALIWAN
Casting Director MARGEAUX ELKRIEF
Models FISHER SMITH @TheSociety and YOUSSOUF BAMBA @DNAModels
Hair Stylist NERO using BUMBLE AND BUMBLE
Set Designer JESSE COOLEY / Furniture by MINJAE KIM